Page 46 of The Stone Family Warrior

Chapter 12

It startled Liberty how easy it was to move her arms around Trent’s neck and pull him closer, then push her lips to his.

His skin was soft, supple, warm. The man smelled delicious, and everything about this kiss felt perfect.

His hands moved up her back and into her hair, tugging through her curls. He pulled back. “Your hair is like a fairy kingdom. One that’s not real and one I dream about.” He kissed her again.

She couldn’t help but laugh at this man and how he was dreaming about her hair. “I’ll take that as a compliment,” she murmured through the kissing. Oh gosh, it was good.

“You should.”

She deepened the kiss.

He responded in kind.

How many times had she dreamed of kissing Trent Stone while growing up? The attraction between them kicked up a notch, and it forced her to push back. “Trent, I can’t.”

Trent relaxed his hold on her but kept his hands on her hips. “I’m sorry. Lib, we can take this slower.”

His deep, green eyes were so intense. She thought about all the differences between Trent Stone as a sixteen-year-old and Trent Stone now. Even though she felt guilty for kissing him, she couldn’t feel guilty for being attracted to him. She couldn’t feel guilty about being here with him. His family had gone through so much with hunting the treasure and losing their mother, not to mention losing their father prior to that. Yet Trent talked so easily about being a team guy, about his brother being spun up on an operation. She was haunted by his status as a SEAL and the danger that would involve.

Trent caressed her hair, carefully brushing it back from her face. “You have to tell me what you’re thinking about. Your silence is worrying me.”

“Why?”

“Because silence in women isn’t the best thing.”

“Oh, right, all your women.” She began pulling away.

“That’s not fair,” he said, holding her tightly against him. “What were you thinking just now?”

An idea occurred to her. “If I tell you what I was thinking just now, will you tell me how many women you’ve dated?”

He rolled his eyes. “Why do you want to talk about that?”

“Because I just kissed you.”

“Right,” he said, leaning in and pressing his lips to her neck. “Let’s focus on the kissing you part.”

“Stop,” she protested, although she couldn’t help but giggle.

Of course, the man didn’t stop. He dragged her with him as he stepped back and sat on the edge of the big desk. “Tell me what you were thinking,” he said, adjusting her in his arms so that his head could reach around and he could kiss the other side of her neck.

She giggled again. “You’re far too encouraged.”

“Tell me what you were thinking a little bit ago,” he insisted, rolling a piece of her hair between his fingers.

Clearly, he wasn’t giving up. “I guess this proves you wouldn’t give up while interrogating a terrorist, either.”

He pulled back, then his face hardened. “Heck no,” he said seriously.

She hesitated, then relented, diverting her gaze toward the journal that was still in her hand. “I haven’t kissed another man, or dated, or really had any relationship since Will passed.”

His eyes roved back from her hair to her eyes. “You want to know what the funny thing is? It’s that Hunter was just teasing me the other day about how I have never liked to think about what a woman is thinking. Would you believe he called me selfish?” He flashed her a smile. “And do you want to know the real crazy part?”

“What?” she whispered.

“I want to know the ramblings in your brain. All of them.”

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